Tool for operating on wires of fences



(No Model.)

J. HEARD. TOOL FOR OPERATING 0N WIRES 0F FENCES.

No 477,005,. Patented'June 14, 1892.

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UNITED. STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES HEARD, OF DELTA, COLORADO.

TOOL FOR OPERATING ON WIRES OF FENCES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 477,005, dated June 14, 1892.. Application filed March 19, 1891. Renewed November 28, 1891. Serial No. 418,425. (No model.)

. To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, JAMES HEARD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Delta, in the county of Delta and State of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Combination-Tools; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention consists of the improved combination-tool hereinafter to be more fully described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure l is a side view of the tool. Fig. 2 is a side view of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detail of one jaw. Fig. dis a modification. Fig. 5 is a detail of the roughened exterior of jaw 6. Fig. 6 is a detail.

In handling wire for various purposes, and especially in the building and repairing of wires fence on Western ranches and railroadlines, it is desirable to have a combination tool by which the wire may be strained and held until fastened, cut, twisted, and bent or straightened when necessary and by which old staples and other fastenings may be drawn out and the wreck of a broken fence cleared up in preparation for the stringing of new wires. Ihavedesignedatoolespeciallysuited for this work and illustrated it in the accompanying drawings, in which the two parts pivoted together by the pin or bolt at to form the nippers consist of the curved jaws 5 and 6 and the handles 1 and 2. In the handle 1 the ring 3 is mounted. Recesses 7, S, and 9, formed in the nipper-jaws near the pivotal point, form as many pairs of shears when their opposing edges are properly sharpened. One of the curved jaws, as 5, has a claw 12 formed on its exterior, and also a cam-grip mounted thereon back of said claw. This cam-grip is composed of the stationary jaw 10, roughened, if

desirable, and the pivoted cam 11, the inner cheek of which is also roughened. The other jaw 6 has its exterior roughened in any suitable manner, such as is shown at 16, so that when this jaw is pressed against a post or other object the projections 16 will sink in and form a fulcrum for the lever formed by the tool, the weight on said lever being the resistance of the stretched wire acting at the claw or cam-grip, and the power being the hand of the operator applied at the handles or a guy-rope run through the ring 3. The abutting faces of the nipper-jaws have considerable portions of their abutting surfaces left full and square and roughened, if desirable, as shown at 15, to seize and compress any pieceof wire or other object, or to twist together the free ends of wire. Other portions, however, are cut away so as to form recesses, leaving two opposite sharppointed projections 13 and 14, which can be pressed into the surface of a post to seize a staple or piece of wire embedded therein. The staple or piece of wire can thus be withdrawn and the wreck of the broken fence cleared up before new wires are strung or the staple loosened and the wire tightened. The pointed projections 13 14 may be raised above the ends of the jaws, as shown in the modification, Fig. 4, or they may be formed as shown in Figs. 1 and 3.

The mode of operation of my invention is as follows: The workman removes all old staples and wires by use of the projections 13 and let. He forces them together around the wire, and then draws it out by a direct pull or by prying. The wire is cut into proper lengths by using any one of the shearing-recesses 7, 8, or 9. Anykinks are straightened out by pressure between the roughened faces 15 of the jaws. The claw 12 is then caught into a barb on the wire, the roughened surface 16 is placed against the post, and pressure on the handle 1 then stretches the wire. The wire maybe kept in this strained condition (while it is fastened to the post by the driving of staples across it) by passing a strap through the ring 3 and around any convenient object. WVhen there are no barbs on the wire, or when it is desired to seize it at a point between the barbs, the cam-grip is used. This grip operates upon the well-understood principle, compressing the wire more firmly as the strain on it becomes greater. It frequently occurs that two posts. are to be fastened together by a loop of Wire. The two ends of the loop are then seized by the rough-, ened surfaces 15 of the nippers and twisted one around the other, the posts thereby being drawn together. The ring 3 may be slipped over the handle 2 to-hold the jaws of the nippers together. There are many other ways,

too numerous to mention,in which myinvention may be employed to advantage.

The great advantage in every case is' that one man can carry this tool on horseback into otherwise inaccessible places and do the work which now requires two men, a set of tools, and a team of horses.

Having therefore described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to protect by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, in a pair of nippers, of the two curved jaws, one of which has its exterior surface roughened to form a fulcrum, while the other has a claw formed on its exterior, substantially as described.

2. The combination, in a pair of nippers, of the two curved jaws, one of which has its exterior surface roughened to form a fulcrum, and the cam-gripping device mounted on the exterior of the other jaw, substantially as described.

3. The combination,in a pair of nippers, of the two curved jaws, one of which has its exterior surface roughened to form a fulcrum, while the other has a claw formed on its exterior, and the ring attached to the handle of that nipper-jaw which has the roughened exterior, substantially as described.

4?. The combination, in apair of nippers, of the two curved jaws, one of which has its exterior surface roughened to form a fulcrum, and the cam-gripping device mounted on the the two curved jaws which have considerable portions of their abutting faces left with broad opposing surfaces, while the remaining portions are cut away so as to form a recess and a pair of sharp-pointed projections, substantially as described.

6. In a pair of nippers, the combination of the two curved jaws which have considerable portions of their abutting facesleft with broad opposing surfaces, while the remaining portions are cut away so as to form a recess and a pair of sharp-pointed projections, one of said jaws having its exterior surface roughened to form a fulcrum,a claw formed on the exterior of the other jaw, and a cam-grip mounted behind said claw, the shearing-recesses formed in the jaws of the nippers near the pivot by which they are connected, and the ring mounted in the handle, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

. JAMES HEARD.

Vitnesses:

A. P. SMITH,

WARREN W. FOSTER. 

